The story begins when the young parson of Long Stow church, who had long been an example of discipline and respectability in his village, confessed to be the father of the late Molly Musk’s illegitimate child. In spite of the fact that Robert Carlton had sacrificed his life and vocation for the sake of honesty and justice through such confession, his parishioners’ refused to see any goodness in his character, and seemed to forget all his previous clerical efforts.
As soon as Carlton’s confession was made public, everyone in the village turned against him. The family, which was in his service, deserted him instantly, and on the same night, there was a riot led by some villagers who had attacked his rectory and partly managed to destroy it. Soon afterwards his church was burnt to the ground, and to make matters worse, he was even accused of setting fire to it. Fortunately for the parson, the court had cleared him from this accusation, while the Church of England declared him formally suspended for a period of five years. Sir Wilton Gleed, however, refused, as the owner of the living, to have anything to do with the fallen parson, and tried his best to send the man away.
Carlton, however, was determined to purge his sin where he had committed it, and looked forward to rebuild the Long Stow church as an act of atonement towards its inhabitants. In response to this decision, Wilton Gleed had bribed and strove against the parson’s acquirement of any workmen neither in Long Stow nor from the neighboring villages. After many attempts, which were all doomed to failure, Carlton finally understood that Gleed would not let him get any help to rebuild his church, but instead of giving up his task, he decided to rebuild the church with his own bare hands if he had to. From this moment on, the former clergyman had begun living in a state of total isolation, for the villagers had their instructions from Gleed to ignore him entirely, and have nothing to do with him.
For five years, Carlton worked daily at his assignment. The difficulty of the task, along with the inadequate diet upon which he lived contributed to a fit of illness he had caught on his first winter of solitude. Although he had narrowly escaped death, Carlton carried on his task as soon as he could stand on his feet again, and the fifth year found his church nearly finished. Meanwhile, his son, who was raised by the Musks had grown to be a hearty young boy, who ventured one day unnoticed into the church. Father and son thus met for the first time, and Carlton instantly developed a passionate love for his boy. The infant was accompanied by his benefactress Gwynneth, Sir Gleed’s niece.
The young woman gradually began to fall in love with the former parson but her feelings were kept to herself, for she was engaged to Wilton Gleed’s son for a time. She broke off the tie, however, and in a revengeful attempt to punish her, her cousin told her the truth of Carlton’s dark past. The latter meanwhile was regaining his former respect in the eyes of his parishioners. His efforts to rebuild the church were admired by all. Moreover, a scene with Jasper Musk, that nearly killed his boy, proved him to be a good hearted and respectable man in spite of his mistakes.
In a final revengeful act, Jasper Musk found his way to the church, one night, and set the fire to it again. It was only at this moment that the villagers understood their former grave mistake of accusing Carlton of the hideous act. Soon enough, there was a crowd attempting to extinguish the fire. Robert Carlton himself had entered the burning building to rescue the vindictive old man, but died trying in a heroically tragic scene. Thus ends the story of Robert Carlton. His son was taken good care of by Gwynneth, who had loved both father and son in spite of the prejudiced rumors about them.
